Into the Night
"Into the Night" is a 1980 song by American pop singer-songwriter Benny Mardones, from his album Never Run, Never Hide, and re-released in 1989, where it appeared on the album Benny Mardones. It is unusual for being one of only 10 recordings to ever ascend to the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart twice. The chartings, in 1980 and in 1989, were of two similar but separate recordings. Chubby Checker was first to do this with his cover of "The Twist", a single that went to #1 in September 1960 and again in January 1962. Other artists to achieve the feat include the Contours, who charted "Do You Love Me" in 1962 and 1988, and the Righteous Brothers, who charted "Unchained Melody" in 1965 and 1990. Benny Mardones originally released "Into the Night" in June 1980. The song peaked at #11 on the Hot 100 for two weeks in September 1980, logging 20 weeks on the chart before falling off in late October. In 1989, a Where Are They Now? Arizona radio segment spurred L.A. DJ Scott Shannon to add the song to his playlist, ultimately rocketing the song back onto the national charts, on May 6, 1989. Mardones' recording peaked this time at #20 the first week in July, adding 17 weeks to its previous run of 20, to add up to a total of 37 (nonconsecutive) weeks, breaking the record set by Laura Branigan with her single "Gloria", which charted for 36 (consecutive) weeks from July 1982 to March 1983, for the longest-charting single of the 1980s by a solo artist. "Into the Night" was a hit on Adult Contemporary radio this time as well, where it spent 19 weeks, and also peaked at #20.[1] Mardones re-recorded the song in 1989 for a new, self-titled album on the Curb Records label; this second recording drew further radio attention. "Into the Night" was later re-recorded for Mardones' 2002 album A Journey Through Time, which also included the track again as an acoustic version.[2] Usher samples this song in a song entitled "Making Love (Into the Night)", on his Raymond v. Raymond album. Music video[edit source | editbeta] Mardones made a music video for the song, but, as it pre-dated MTV by a year, it was not widely broadcast. The video opens with Mardones walking down a street and approaching a house. The song plays over the video, and the lyrics serve as Mardones' monologue. He is met at the door by a bearded man who tells him, "She's just 16 years old. Leave her alone." Mardones leaves and walks around to the back of the house, peering through a window at a girl sitting sullenly in her room. The video then cuts to Mardones at a pay phone, speaking to the girl on the other end of the line and professing his love. The video then cuts again to Mardones returning to the girl's house, carrying a rolled-up carpet. He crawls through her bedroom window, unravels the magic carpet, and taking the girl's hand, they take flight into the night sky. The video closes with Mardones serenading the girl as they embrace, the scene finally fading to black as they kiss. Though difficult to find in its entirety, clips from the video have been featured in infomercials for Time-Life Soft Rock compilations.[3] Chart performance[edit source | editbeta] Personnel[edit source | editbeta] 1980 Polydor recording *Barry Mraz - Producer, Engineer *Benny Mardones - Vocals, Vocals (Background), Main Performer *Bobby Messano - Guitar *Kinny Landrum - Keyboards *Robert Tepper - Bass, Vocals (Background) *Ron Bloom - Guitar *Sandy Gennaro - Drums 1989 Curb re-recording *Michael Lloyd - Producer, Engineer *Benny Mardones - Vocals, Vocals (Background) *Dennis Belfield - Bass *Duane Evans - Piano, Vocals (Background) *Ron Bloom - Guitar *Ron Krasinski - Drums Other versions[edit source | editbeta] Nick Kamen covered the song for his 1987 debut album Nick Kamen. In 1991, Ragga singer Junior Tucker had a European hit and a #46 Australian hit with the song, retitled "16 (Into The Night)". In early 2009 "Into The Night" is also played in the background during Season Two of AMC's "Breaking Bad". In late 2009, Taiwan's Harlem Yu released a cover version of the song in his 3-disc greatest hits compilation. In 2010, Usher released a reinterpolation of the song, "Making Love (Into the Night)" on his Raymond vs. Raymond album. The song was also sampled by indie hip hop group Conrad Hilton's "Into The Night/Heat Of The Night"[citation needed] and Decoy's version of "Into The Night"[citation needed], both of which feature Benny Mardones in the songs. Rapper Triple J used the melody of this song using different lyrics for his song "16 Years Old". Category:1980 singles